Progress towards national greenhouse gas emissions targets in Europe

Assessment versions

Published (reviewed and quality assured)

• 26 Oct 2021, 11:52 AM
  - Progress towards national greenhouse gas emissions targets in Europe

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

No rationale has been identified for this indicator.

Scientific references

• No rationale references available

Indicator definition

This indicator presents the sectoral trends and projections for GHG emissions under the scope of the Effort Sharing legislation in the EU-27 and assesses the annual progress of the EU member States throughout the entire compliance period of the Effort Sharing Decision (2013-2020).

Units

Million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO₂e) and percentage.

Policy context and targets

Context description

In 2007, EU leaders committed to a 20% reduction in EU GHG emissions by 2020 on the basis of 1990 GHG emissions. The EU 2020 Climate and Energy Package, adopted in 2009, sets a two-fold legislative framework to achieve the 20% GHG emissions reduction objective:

• a 21% reduction in emissions covered under the EU ETS, compared with 2005 levels, to be achieved across the whole EU; and
• an effort to reduce emissions not covered by the EU ETS by about 10% compared with 2005 levels, shared between the EU Member States through differentiated annual national GHG targets for the period 2013-2020 under the ESD.

Building on the 2020 climate and energy package, the European Council adopted the 2030 climate and energy framework, which sets a target of a 40% reduction in GHG emissions compared with 1990, including the Effort Sharing Regulation, the successor of the ESD for 2021-2030. As part of the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law, the 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target was raised to -55% compared with 1990, including emissions and removals.

Targets

No targets have been specified

Related policy documents

No related policy documents have been specified

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

This indicator is based on the official GHG inventories submitted by EU-27 countries to the EEA, as well as on the projected GHG emissions submitted by the Member States under the Governance Regulation. The EU ETS emissions, as reported to the European Commission by operators of industrial installations and aircraft, are also used. When available, approximate estimates of GHG emissions for the year (X—1) are also presented.

Methodology for gap filling

No methodology for gap filling has been specified. Probably this info has been added together with indicator calculation.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Data specifications

EEA data references

• Member States' greenhouse gas (GHG) emission projections provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
• Greenhouse gas emissions under the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) provided by European Commission , European Environment Agency (EEA)
• Approximated estimates for greenhouse gas emissions provided by European Commission , European Environment Agency (EEA)

External data references

• Effort Sharing emission targets 2013-2020 (Effort Sharing Decision, ESD) (Dataset URL is not available)
• Effort Sharing targets 2021-2030 (Effort Sharing Regulation, ESR) (Dataset URL is not available)

Data sources in latest figures

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified

Data sets uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified